Money Was My Idol

If someone asked me what was the most important thing in life fifteen years ago I would have said money. Money was the god in my life and while I was getting my bachelors degree in Computer Science, I couldn’t wait to graduate to start making money. When I got a job at a publishing company maintaining all their computer systems and making $48,000 a year I felt I was well on my way to my dreams.

My dreams were to buy a nice house, a nice car, and to have a great husband to share it with. That was my main motivator for life and that’s what got me up every morning was to go out and make money and go to the best restaurants in town and be well known for my accomplishments. I wanted to vacation in Hawaii and the Caribbean with every vacation I got.

I came from humble beginnings and was poor all my life but once I got my degree and started to make good money, I felt like I was someone. I was able to take care of myself and that to me was an accomplishment. I did it! I made a name for myself! I worked hard to drag myself out of the hell hole I was in. I did it by myself and nobody could take that away from me.

When a good friend of mine shared with me the true gospel which is the “good news” of salvation and that God saves sinners, that right there stopped me in my tracks. I mean I knew I was a sinner but was unaware that Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross for my sins. Man is by nature sinful and separated from God with no hope of remedying that situation. But God, by His power, provided the means of man’s redemption in the death, burial and resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

When I became a Christian, everything about my life changed. The more I got to know Jesus Christ the closer I became aware of my sin and the more I understood that money was the idol I was worshipping. I didn’t know God was a jealous God but He is and He wants us to worship only him.

When I read a scripture in the Bible about a young rich man asking the Lord what must I do to enter the Kingdom of God? God told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor and come follow me. The young man held his head down and walked away and Jesus said, “Again I tell you that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:24. This verse stuck with me for a while. The Holy Spirit was convicting my heart over the fact of money and where it played such a significant part in my life.

I remember the company I worked for until it went belly up, I was now in the throes of the unemployed. I moved down to California and tried to get another computer job but those were the days when all the dot com companies were going broke. So my brother-in-law got me a job selling Keebler cookies. I hated that job and I hated the fact that I couldn’t get a computer position. Little did I know that God was doing a work in my heart. I remember throwing tantrums every time I went to work and would cry at night for the loss of my old job where I was up to making $65,000 a year plus bonuses and raises. I was so miserable with the fact that buying a home and a new car while making $17.00 an hour was suddenly out of my reach. After all the hard work and the time I spent getting certified by Microsoft, I thought God was punishing me.

What I didn’t know was that God was trying to teach me that all the material possessions I received were not going to make me happy. He was trying to teach me that if I saved up all my treasures in Heaven that that would bring me much reward. Matthew 6:20 tells us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. My heart was in the wrong place as was my attitude. It took me a long time not to be angry with God about getting menial jobs that paid nothing.

I finally accepted the fact that if I were to live for God, then God would be the one and only one I would worship. I made a decision that I would no longer bow down to idols and worship them thinking they were the way to my salvation. Jesus saves and is the only one that can forgive.

There are so many lessons in my Christian walk that I had a hard time overcoming but money was the hardest for me. Today, I pray that God places me in a place where I can make enough money to take care of myself and all my needs. Other than that, I am happy that God told me that He will never leave me nor forsake me. That He will always take care of me and that I must trust only in Him.

If you have had some of these same issues with money or any other idol in your life that you worship and are trying to overcome, than please visit my website and read some books that might help you overcome these issues. My website is: http://www.truelifelivingbooks.com.

Thank you and God Bless…